Winter Bird Counts Reveal Unusual And Abundant Focus On Nature

February 09, 1986|by TOM FEGELY, The Morning Call

Every year at Christmas time thousands of avid birdwatchers don boots and winter coats, arm themselves with binoculars and bird guides, and head afield to identify and count everything from American wigeons to yellow-rumped warblers. The event is appropriately called the Christmas Bird Count and it's performed in varied sectors of the continent from Canada to Mexico and beyond.

Volunteers go afield on horseback, in canoes, via car and four-wheel drive trucks or simply traipse through woodlands and fields in search of their oft- elusive quarry. Some birders specialize in guess-timating vast roosts of crows or starlings and others may begin their duties at midnight in hopes of talking to owls and identifying them by their sounds. A few never leave the confines of their homes, choosing to take part by counting the visitors to their backyard feeding stations.

Locally there are about a half-dozen such censuses made annually, three of which I've had the chance to review in recent days. The information from each of the count areas goes into a central accounting system and is eventually summarized in American Birds magazine.

The most interesting facet of the reports, which indicate species seen and the numbers of each that participating birders have tallied, are most meaningful when comparisons are made to sightings of previous years. Changes in species types and their overwintering populations serve as a barometer of the general health or the increasing or diminishing ranges of the 75-85 types of winter birdlife that can be expected hereabouts.

The focus today is on the unusual sightings made on the December field trips and the species found in the greatest numbers. Special thanks to Bud Souders of the Lehigh Valley Audubon Society, Don and Elaine Mease of the Moravian College Conservation Association and Judge William Harte Rufe III of the Bucks County Audubon Society for providing the final tally sheets.

Some of the more unusual finds in the three December surveys include two bald eagles, one an adult and the other an immature bird, listed by Bucks County birders. The mature eagle was seen at the Green Lane Reservoir in upper Montgomery County. The immature bird, lacking the distinctive white head and tail of the full-plumaged adult, was seen flying over Richlandtown in upper Bucks County.

The Quakertown Swamp area, a good place to find unusual birds summer and winter, yielded a chipping sparrow in its winter plumage. The little "chippie" is a common dooryard resident in the warm months but a rarity when the temperatures drop. In summer it shows a black bill, white eye stripe and rusty cap. Winter finds the adults looking very much as they did in their first months of life - with light bills and dull, streaked crowns. Most birders, this columnist included, would be hard-pressed to make a positive I.D. of a winter chippie.

Another unusual sighting was a white-fronted goose at Lake Nockamixon, recorded on the Dec. 22 Upper Bucks-Montgomery count. Also known as the "specklebelly," this waterfowl is rare anywhere east of the Mississippi.

Other birds found by the Bucks County Auduboners that aren't everyday winter sightings included eight snow geese, six wood ducks, two green-winged teal, 38 gadwalls, 16 black vultures, one long-eared owl, two red-headed woodpeckers, 75 Eastern bluebirds, nine hermit thrushes, one savannah sparrow, six swamp sparrows, five white-crowned sparrows, two snow buntings and seven common redpolls.

The Lehigh County region, specifically a designated area 7 1/2 -miles in radius with its center at Trexlertown, provided Audubon participants with views of 72 species of birds - about normal for the winter count.

Unusual sightings included a house wren, nine bluebirds, a lone hermit thrush, seven swamp sparrows, 200 snow buntings (all in one flock), two rusty blackbirds, one Lincoln sparrow, one gadwall, one common goldeneye, a snipe, three goshawks, two woodcock and a merlin.

The merlin is a small, dark falcon and is uncommon anywhere in the East. It was seen in the area of western Lehigh County, north of Stroh Brewery.

The Bethlehem-Easton-Hellertown census encompasses portions of each of the three communities and was conducted by the Moravian College Conservation Association. Unusual sightings included six common loons, a wood duck and nine common goldeneyes, on the Delaware River. Goldeneyes were also spotted on the Lehigh River.

A merlin was also seen on this count,near the Lehigh University fields. Nineteen bluebirds were also tallied, the highest number recorded on the winter survey in the 27 years that the conservation group has been active.